Thick iron bands kept Luna bolted down to the truck bed as it rolled across the lonely desert. With no guards available to work this late, it was only her and the engine-deafened driver. This was her chance to escape.

Flexing every sinew in her powerful body, the mighty blue dragoness strained to stand. She pushed off the floor with her huge paws, craned her neck, pulled her legs and flared her wings. Both she and the metal grunted and groaned as they strained against each other. Luna heaved and hauled, measuring her breaths and keeping up a steady effort even as her limbs began to ache.

'Come on... ngk!'

Her pretty emerald eyes screwed shut and a small puff of flame vented from her nostrils. The restraints creaked louder, but they were sturdy, stubborn, unyielding. Luna let herself fall for but a moment, recalcitrance burning in her pupils. Then she growled in frustration and redoubled her efforts. Her grunts filled the air, muscles starting to burn as her whole body shook with exertion.

'Huff... you can do it... push, you old girl, PUSH!'

Rivets began to tremble under her formidable strength. The cuffs moaned and bit into her hide, starting to struggle with her. Luna ignored the pain, arching her back and calling out to her ancestors for greater thew. Only then, as a strangled, high-pitched sound built in the back of her throat, did she feel something start to give. The bands whined in unison as they began to approach their limit, budging ever so slightly.

It still wasn't enough. Another jet of fire burst from Luna's snout as she heaved with everything she had. Tiny, sparse drops of perspiration started to form on her flanks and forehead. The cuffs gave everything they had too, crying out with effort and hauling back against her. But they were losing their grip now, audibly succumbing to the dragon's terrific might.

'Nearly there... huff... just a little more...'

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the thick irons began to bend. Luna kept going, bruises showing through her fine scales as she pulled apart her bindings. A once-firmly rooted bolt screamed and wrenched free, loosing her muzzle with a head toss. Another band, the largest across her back, began to crack under the pressure. It sounded like the others were begging it to hold, relying on it as they squealed, stressed, and stretched.

But it couldn’t. Luna arched her back against it again and again, widening the fissure until it tore through completely. The jagged edges cut her wing membranes, and she bit back a yelp of pain. She’d just ripped inch thick metal like so much cardboard.

She thrashed side to side, slamming her flanks into the two halves and bending them apart until the gap was wide enough for her torso to maneuver. The movement made the truck swerve, and the driver skidded to a stop, emerging and fumbling with a tranq gun.

Luna went wide eyed and reacted with adrenaline, straining every muscle in her neck and shoulders. With all of her strength, she tore her head free and leveled her maw at the human, blasting his gun with fire. He dropped the superheated rifle and clutched at his scorched hands.

She intentionally missed another shot at his feet when he tried to retrieve it, and their eyes locked as he backpedalled. Luna’s gaze was firm, intelligent, but not angry, and she believed some understanding passed between them before he got the message ran for the hills. She wouldn’t kill him. Proving his kind right wouldn’t save hers from their persecution.

Luna stood achingly and wiggled her hindquarters, slowly working them out from under the hoops that bound them. Her tail tugged taut as it caught under a particularly stubborn clamp near the tip, but a few firm pulls with her hips slipped the half numb appendage free.

Now her paws. She was almost loose, but they were still stuck tight, too wide to simply slide out like she’d done with her backside. There was one more test of strength ahead of her, but she had more tools to help her now.

Luna inhaled the night air deeply, stoking the embers in her belly once more, and breathed a wash of flame over one of her wrist cuffs until it softened and glowed. Then she leaned and pulled with her foreleg, draconic muscles tightening as she tried to lift. No give. This was different from using all four limbs or her core muscles.

She bit down and gnawed at the cuff, trying to dislodge it with her powerful jaws and neck while jerking her wrist. The orange metal sang, weakening, cooling, cracking. She blasted again at point blank range, ignoring the discomfort in her gums and teeth.

‘Puullll!’

Tiny cracks began coalescing into a large fracture. The metal cooled. She reheated it, the thermal shock straining it. Her arm and neck muscles bulged under her scales.

‘Puuuullllllll!!’

*skreeeeeEEEN!*

The cuff finally burst with a mighty effort, cutting Luna’s wrist as she freed it. She hissed in pain and put it to her lips, licking the bloody wounds. Fortunately they didn’t seem too deep.

Three more. The dragoness gave her other wrist shackle the same treatment, heating, then hooking her claws under its rim and pulling up with all her strength. She raised her head and grit her teeth, a tiny tear squeezing out from her eye in a mix of pain and strain.

‘You… can’t… hold me… here!’

*c-c-craaack…*

Luna panted, forcing out another blast of dim fire. A droplet ran down her horn and brow. Her inner reserves were running low, but she pushed on, gathering for another desperate haul, then another.

‘You WON’T hold me here!’

Heat, Pull, Crack.

Heat, Pull, Crack.

Heat. Pull. Cra-a-a-aaack!

SNAP! The bond shattered, again scraping her wrist, though she’d braced this time. Luna took a moment to nurse her bleeding arms, then wipe her forehead, and finally stretch her long graceful body to pop her back in the cool wind. Her hind feet bent up of the ground as she did so, reminding her of the last two cuffs on binding them. She was tired, felt tempted to rest, but couldn’t risk falling asleep here.

She stood up on her haunches, hooked both forepaws under the one on her right foot, and wound up to breathe another blaze… only for a puff of smoke to emerge. Luna cursed. Her fire needed to recharge. But perhaps the strength of both arms would be enough.

Gathering her final scraps of stamina, Luna heaved upward with both arms and her leg at once. These were thicker, tougher than the ones on her arms had been. It fought back valiantly against her efforts, pulling her back down.

‘Don’t falter… think STRENGTH!’

*r-r-rrrr-rrrk~*

It was struggling now, the bolts slowly pulling out of their moorings in the truck bed. Luna’s wrists burned and stung. She ignored it. Every muscle tensed and trembled as she bared her fangs. Her other foot pushed off, claws digging in and scratching the floor. She slowly craned back harder, inch by inch, shaking more with each passing second.

‘Come on… almost…!’

*rrrRRRRNNNN!*

The cuff moaned loud, almost as if shouting, “She’s… too… strong!” Then it tore away with a loud clang, sparing the Luna’s ankle. She gasped heavily, her heart racing. She turned her sparkling glare to the final restraint keeping her contained, and it seemed to shrink away in response, all alone in its fight.

She almost felt bad for it.

The dragoness licked her wrists again, then grappled onto the cuff and pulled hard. Immediately, she felt how firmly rooted it was. This one must have been fastened first, before the crew got lazy.

She grunted in frustration, her paw pads getting sore. But she wouldn’t be deterred now. Luna pulled upward, then side to side, then leaned down to try and bite, only to confirm she wasn’t flexible enough. It wasn’t until she sank back onto all fours and leaned forward that she noticed a slight shift. She grinned. That was its weakness.

Luna walked forward as far as she could, and strained to lift that back leg, as if trying to take a step. Her muscles tightened and her hindpaw bent against the ground, its claws splaying and scraping.

“NNNGH!”

It hurt, but she kept going. She was so, so close! She just had to…

‘PUUUULLLLLLLL!!’

The cuff clunked in its sockets, but it would not sigh. Her long foot bent at a sharper angle, pulling up and forward. Her thigh and calf bulged and strained. Her claws dug in hard. She grabbed onto the edge of the truck bed with her forepaws and added their strength to the pull.

The restraint fought her with everything it was worth. Luna fought for everything she was worth. Neither planned to yield.

‘Almost… free!’

Luna yanked and rocked back and forth with her aching foot, weakening the cuff’s connections as much as she could, each one increasing in duration until she’d transitioned fully to a long, strong, continuous pull. A bruise appeared along the top of her paw as she straaained it harder, her fangs bared.

The cuff embraced her foot with its iron arms, quavering under the pressure. Its grip was starting to slip, moaning and bowing. Its rivets, and even the metal of the floor they were nested in, were starting to dent and bend.

Luna heard the telltale creaking and groaning of freedom and kept pouring it on. She leaned further forward, pulling with her burning arms and leg, pushing with her other leg. Her whole body, every muscle fiber, quaked with effort.

Still the cuff held on, digging deep into its wells of strength even with its anchor bolts visible. Metal ground on metal, sparking, shrieking, groaning and moaning as it tried desperately to hold its prisoner captive. Luna shook and breathed raggedly.

‘Nearly there!’

*SKRRRRRN!*

Luna roared and hurled her full weight forward, heaving. The cuff screamed and rattled, at its limit. Metallic pings rang out as the bolts skidded from their roots, a millimeter at a time. The iron stretched like high-tensile tire rubber.

“Can’t… HOLD HER!”

BANG! The tension exploded as the manacle ripped out of the ground, finally releasing the dragoness. Luna made a weird sound, halfway between a sob of relief and a laugh of triumph, standing tenderly with her freshly-loosed foot off the ground.

Goodness, did she ever ache! But a rest would have to wait. Her wings, the only part of her yet to be taxed, flared open and pumped her sore, limp body into the air, leaving the truck behind as she made for the forested mountains in the distance.

A small part of her wondered if her interaction with the human would make a difference. But it was quickly overtaken by a raging need to rest. She couldn’t wait to find a makeshift den and sleep.